I am taking my son Muskie fishing on Pigeon lake in two weeks and I am looking for any tips that can assist in getting my son his first Muskie on the line. This is a reward for him completing his boater exam so I really want to have him catch (and release) his first Muskie. I am not asking for the coordinates to anyone's honey hole, just some general tips on what has been working on Pigeon lately and if the fish are really shallow or have moved off slightly deeper. I hear the bite has been tough this year due to higher water levels and this will be my first time ever fishing this lake. I have the Navionics chip so I can at least see the depths of structure (and hopefully avoid hitting any of the shallow stuff). I would appreciate any feedback and I am always very careful in my handling of Muskie as I greatly appreciate the fact that we have a healthy population of Muskie in the Kawartha's that I want to preserve. I post any pictures of fish we can in a few weeks, esp. if my son gets his first.
Cheers,
Muskie Bob
Tips on Fishing Pigeon Lake
- Muskie Bob
- Participant
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2009 6:32 pm
- Location: Oaktown
Re: Tips on Fishing Pigeon Lake
I've caught many muskie in Pigeon over the last 20+ years. You have many options. I only fished the opener this year on Buckhorn and it was tough. The rain, water levels etc have affected fishing. I'm not sure about now or next week but I'd go with what has worked in the past for me:
Casting - I'm usually in the north part of the lake. Hurricane point all the way into Little Bald. Find weed lines that you can drift or use trolling motor. Lots to choose from. Cast in 15 to 8 ft or water with double spinners or jerk/glide baits right to the edge of the weeds. Sometimes I'll try shallower if I don't get anything here.
Trolling - In august there is a good open water bite in Pigeon. I troll what appears to be open water (muskie might relate to something down there but most likely they are looking for forage of some kind) with Believers, Super Shad Raps with anywhere from 10 to 50 ft of line out. I troll 15 to 25 ft of water at 4 to 5 mph.
Also you can throw on shallow running baits like large spinner baits, double spinners (I like 8's for trolling) on short lines (5 to 15 ft out). Troll as close as you darn to a weedline. Trick is to not get lines all weeded up. I usually try to be 5mph for this.
If you are in the south part of the lake the same principle applies.
Casting - I'm usually in the north part of the lake. Hurricane point all the way into Little Bald. Find weed lines that you can drift or use trolling motor. Lots to choose from. Cast in 15 to 8 ft or water with double spinners or jerk/glide baits right to the edge of the weeds. Sometimes I'll try shallower if I don't get anything here.
Trolling - In august there is a good open water bite in Pigeon. I troll what appears to be open water (muskie might relate to something down there but most likely they are looking for forage of some kind) with Believers, Super Shad Raps with anywhere from 10 to 50 ft of line out. I troll 15 to 25 ft of water at 4 to 5 mph.
Also you can throw on shallow running baits like large spinner baits, double spinners (I like 8's for trolling) on short lines (5 to 15 ft out). Troll as close as you darn to a weedline. Trick is to not get lines all weeded up. I usually try to be 5mph for this.
If you are in the south part of the lake the same principle applies.
Re: Tips on Fishing Pigeon Lake
When we fish Pigeon we do better on the northern end lots more types of cover to fish humps, weeds deep rocky uneven bottoms to troll . I'll send you a Pm and you can email me I'll help you out with some areas to try . Good Luck